Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1245291
24 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2020 isn't achievable from a board layout stand- point or manufacturing cost standpoint that make the analysis job difficult. Sorting through problems with data requires time that no one seems to have—at least, in the world as it ex- isted three months ago—and any delay associ- ated with vetting and reacquiring data presents a huge problem. Example Issues Why does this happen? While not an ex- haustive list by any means, these are some of the issues I've seen. Poor Definition of Requirements Simulation models are a great example— even though the syntax for simulation models is well defined, there's really no good way to assess simulation model quality or fitness for a particular analysis. In my hardware design days, I noted that just about every analysis project had some simulation models show up past the period we had reserved to test them, so we just gave them a quick test and got to work instead. Without fail, we'd use the mod- els for a week or so before problems popped Feature by Todd Westerhoff MENTOR, A SIEMENS BUSINESS As engineers, we work in the middle of a (usually long) process chain. Product require- ments come from the front of the chain (mar- keting), the products we create are physical- ly realized at the back of the chain ("produc- tion"), and hopefully get sold to customers who enjoy them and buy more. It's sort of like working on an intellectual as- sembly line—we get requirements and data as input, perform our particular task, and then provide our output as requirements and data to the next person on down the line. It seems easy enough. So, why is it that so many of the requirements we're supposed to meet and so much of the data we receive is downright bad? To be fair, "hard data" is usually okay. Com- ponent dimensions, material properties, pinout definitions, etc., all tend to be correct because, without that, reliable manufacturing would be impossible. It's the soft stuff that tends to be the problem. In the case of signal integrity, it's the simulation models we receive from ven- dors or clear guidelines on just what is and What Did You Expect From Me, Anyway?